DAP (Delivered at Place) is the Incoterms® 2020 rule under which the seller carries the goods to the named place in the buyer's country and places them at the buyer's disposal on the arriving means of transport, ready for unloading. Costs and risk during the journey lie with the seller; unloading, import customs clearance and import duties lie with the buyer. It is widely used for door-to-door truck shipments.
Where exactly does delivery take place under DAP?
Under DAP, the place of delivery is the place written next to the rule: it can be the buyer's factory, a customs warehouse, a logistics terminal or a point at the border. The seller brings the goods to this point with a vehicle of its choice; risk passes to the buyer when the goods are placed at the buyer's disposal on the vehicle, ready for unloading. The more precisely the address is written, the fewer the disputes: instead of “DAP Budapest”, write “DAP, buyer's warehouse, [full address], Budapest, Incoterms® 2020”. DAP replaced the DAF, DES and DDU rules withdrawn with Incoterms 2010 and can be used with any mode of transport.
What do the seller and buyer each take on?
| Obligation | Seller | Buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Export customs clearance | Yes | No |
| Main carriage and freight | Yes | No |
| Transit customs formalities (T1, TIR) | Yes | No |
| Risk up to the place of destination | Yes | No |
| Unloading from the arriving vehicle | No (if included in the freight, it cannot be charged to the buyer separately) | Yes |
| Import customs clearance, customs duty and VAT | No | Yes |
| Insurance | No obligation; takes it out because the risk lies with it | No obligation |
How is DAP applied in a door-to-door road shipment?
Take a full truckload shipment from Türkiye to a buyer in Hungary as an example:
- The seller lodges the export declaration; the cargo sets off sealed under a transit declaration.
- The truck passes through the transit countries and reaches the office of destination or an authorised customs point near the buyer's warehouse.
- The buyer or its customs broker lodges the import declaration and pays the duties.
- The truck enters the buyer's warehouse; the buyer unloads the cargo with a forklift or its own staff.
The most frequent problem in this flow is delay in import customs clearance. Due to missing documents or inspection, the truck may wait for days. Incoterms place additional costs arising from the buyer's failure to fulfil its own obligations on the buyer; even so, writing a free waiting time and a daily vehicle detention charge into the contract prevents disputes from the outset. An overview of which rules are preferred for road transport is in the entry which Incoterms are used for road transport; for the service side, see the door-to-door delivery entry.
What is the difference between DAP, DPU and DDP?
Under all three rules, delivery takes place in the destination country. Where they differ is unloading and import. Under DPU, the seller also unloads the goods from the vehicle and risk passes after unloading. Under DDP, the seller carries out import customs clearance and pays the duties. DAP sits between the two: the seller brings the goods to the door, while import and unloading remain with the buyer. Where the seller cannot act as importer in the destination country, DAP is a more workable option than DDP.
Common mistakes
- Writing the place of delivery as a city name only; whether risk has passed once the truck enters the city remains disputed.
- Not stating who is responsible for unloading; with heavy cargo, crane or forklift problems surface on the delivery day.
- Not regulating waiting time and charges at customs in the contract.
- Sending the cargo uninsured even though the risk lies with the seller.
How does Voltim Global support you on this?
Having carried out more than 5,000 shipments since 2014, Voltim Global clarifies in writing in its international road transport quotations the point of delivery, who will unload and the conditions for waiting at customs, before the trip begins.